To determine the limiting reactant in a chemical reaction, you need to compare the molar ratios of the reactants to the stoichiometric ratio in the balanced equation.
In the given reaction, the balanced equation shows that 2 moles of A react with 3 moles of B to form 1 mole of A2B3. From this information, you can compute the ratio of moles of A to moles of B:
A:B = 2:3
Now, let's compare this ratio with the actual amounts provided in the question, which is 1 mole of A and 2 moles of B.
For A, the ratio can be calculated as:
(1 mole of A) / (2 moles of B) = 0.5
For B, the ratio can be calculated as:
(2 moles of B) / (1 mole of A) = 2
Since the ratio of A is 0.5 and B is 2, we can conclude that the limiting reactant is the one with the smaller ratio. In this case, A has the smaller ratio, indicating that A is the limiting reactant.
Therefore, in the given reaction, if 1 mole of A is reacted with 2 moles of B, A will be the limiting reactant since there is an insufficient amount of A to fully react with the available 2 moles of B.